Problem w/a jade plant?

A friend gave me a cutting of a jade plant. It has grown, but now it has white “stuff” on its leaves and branches. Could this be a disease? Insect larvae? What should I do about it? The plant is growing in spite of this.

Those are mealy bugs. Get a cotton swab, dip it in rubbing alcohol, and remove the mealy bugs with it. You might want to consider putting some systemic insecticide into the soil to prevent future infestations; it gets into the vascular system of the plant, and whatever ingests tissue from the plant dies pretty quickly. Good luck!

ATWT 2-23b: Noah tries to save Luke; Casey drags Jade into plot; Lilden worried about Luke